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Femikey

Thursday, June 18, 2009

SSA Summer Dinner

I am having fine time here in Scotland. Yes, there are some low moments but they are quite normal. Please excuse me for being inactive in the Blogging World, i am so preoccupied with other things and you know what they are --- kids and family, travel, shopping, fashion, friendships and food.



Talking about Friendship and Food, our SSA Coordinator here in Aberdeen, Scotland, Emilie Wain sent us, the SSA ladies a lovely invitation which stated: "Dear Ladies, We are having a lovely Summer Dinner to celebrate all sorts of things; the beginning of summer, the approaching end of the school term and the appointment of our own Irina Herbert as European Area Coordinator for the SSA! We hope you can join us."

And we did join! The lovely dinner was last Saturday, the 12th of June at Cafe Montmartre, Justice Mill Lane, Aberdeen, Scotland and here are the food choices:



Entrées
Cream of baby pea’s soup with fresh mint
Snails with shallots, herbs & garlic butter
Crayfish Salad topped with aioli sauce
Pastry tart filled with spinach, goat’s cheese & crème fraîche




Mains
Duck confit in orange sauce
Stuffed lemon sole with prawns & spinach in lobster sauce
Sirloin steak with french fries, and vegetables, topped with green pepper corn or Garlic butter sauce
Risotto with asparagus, mushrooms & broad beans and cooked in white wine with a provençal aubergine sauce



Desserts
White chocolate tart, served with crème anglaise
Finger sponge cake filled with vanilla mousse, topped with various fruit berries
Lemon & Mango Passion fruit sorbet
Cheese platter

Atleast fifty (50) ladies coming all from all parts of the world attended. We also welcomed two(2) new ladies--- Yolanda Pardede from Indonesia and Blanca Mittler from Mexico. As the new Hospitality Coordinator, it was my task to hand them their Welcome Baskets, which i think was a very nice thing to do!

We do thank our husbands' company for the utmost support to our spouses' association. Meeting these lovely ladies, having nice chitchats with them, developing good friendships are both heartwarming and culturally enriching.

I think everyone enjoyed the food as much as i did as everyone went home happy and full of smiles on their faces. Let's enjoy the summer, everyone!!!

For more photos of the dinner, please click:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3325047&l=edc378c205&id=734535184

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Grandad's 80th Birthday!

This is Grandad Larry, 80 years old last April 15, this year. He is the grandfather of my husband Scotty and i considered him as grandad as well. Gramie Joyce, on his birthday party wrote lots of adjectives for him such as : Darling husband, Good neighbour, Sweet Uncle, Radical dad, Awesome great grandad, Good friend, Loving grandad, Terrific brother, and Bestest brother-in-law. Probably, i would add, the Blueberry guy, the survivor, and although he will not show it, an affectionate Grand-father-in-law.


The first plan was: made a big party for him in a hall, but he declined that idea. He is not really up to a big party. He just wanted to stay in the house and have a nice, simple, more personal lunch or dinner with family members . I cannot blame him for that, as he preferred a very low profile occasion and he is really not up to talking to lots of people on that day. He wanted a very relaxing birthday, not a
stresssful one! At 80,he survived lots of health problems even a cancer. So, he is really so lucky and well-blessed.
We know how special is the 80th Birthday for everyone, especially to Grandad Larry who we loved and adored, so our birthday gift for him is for us to be on his birthday. Hence, we flew from Scotland to Canada, most especially to be on his special 80th birthday. We know Grandad was very happy and we had a wonderful time. To you, Grandad Larry, many, many birthdays to come. Cheers to goodhealth, goodhealth and goodhealth!!!

For more photos on this day, please click http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=120141&id=734535184&l=69b8d31800

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Goodbye,Brother Louie,Louie,Louie!!!



This song reminds me of a grown-up lad named Louie. Brother Louie, a very popular disco song of the 80's keeps on repeating Brother Louie, Louie,Louie in the chorus of the song. Yes, i had known someone named Louie and he might not even been born on the 80's...

He is a very energetic, idealistic laddie with an infectious smile. First grandson of award winner local government official, the only son of his family, the first male local youth chairperson (Sangguniang Kabataan) of our local government. 15 years younger than me, this youth leader has a clear future of being another leader one day, contributing good developmental projects to the youth of Barangay Labangal and General Santos City as well and even the Philippines in little way. He continued the projects and programs i had started before --- scholarship program to the poor but deserving students, sports development, anti-drug abuse campaign, adolescent development program, etc... etc...Ah, i miss those times when i was a very active youth leader and seeing the dynamism on the next set of leaders after you gives you an inner connection.

So, last december of 2007 (i know it seems like yesterday), i bonded with the local youth. The photo here represents three youth leaders in different generation. We had bowling tournament and we had a fun time. The beauty of youth is that energy and vigor is just beaming and giggling and laughter is always around. I could not forget that time and i could not forget this photo.

Over a week ago, i was shocked with a news : Louie died in a vehicular accident. Up to now i still cannot believe it. Just a split of a second, his life was taking away from him. So sad...so terrible... The youthful Louie, his smile and his face just like that will be what we will remember of him. Such a tragic loss of life to his family and friends and to the community. My condolence to his family. I know it is a really terrible time.

Rest well, Brother Louie,Louie, Louie! We'll treasure the memories we had with you. You'll be forever youthful in our hearts.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Valentine's Couple Bunco



This is the first time that gentlemen(our dear husbands) played bunco with us. It was fun and now they know what is the kind of atmosphere --- lots of screaming and giggling. It was wonderful! In the photos here: me and Scott and our party hosts--Sheila and Nelo.

Last February 7, one Saturday when the northeast Scotland roads were all covered with snow, nine (9) sweet pairs did not care about the freezing roads and attended the bunco party-- Sheila and Nelo,Kelly and Sean,Sue and Alan,Lynn and Phil,Becky and Joel,Emilie and Stephen,Elsy and Ken and Annette and Rick; one (1) lovely lady -- Jane, and two (2) cool girls---Meghan and Natasha. Sheila and Nelo , as i previously mentioned hosted the party and Sheila was so gracious enough to give a tour of their spacious, beautiful home. Each participant registered 10 pounds each. The highest price will be 50 pounds for the most bunco wins.




As usual, Table 1 was the controller of the game. There were 15 sets of games. Playing the game does not require any skill at all but mainly pure luck. Of course, delectable dishes were present. The host had done great job while the boncu coordinators, Becky and Kelly made the activity very well-organized.

Now, the prices: 50 pounds for the highest number of wins, 40 pounds for the player who got the last boncu, 40 pounds for the player who got many aces out, a player who got many losses, and lucky draws of 10 pound each. That means many went home happy because the money was spread out among most of the players. Guess who got the highest price? I did and Scott was one of the lucky draw winners of which i unexpectedly picked out!!!!

One thing that i could not forget during that night: this game can be bloody as well as i accidentally scratched Sue's hand while grabbing the dices when she got bunco. Please excuse me, Sue! I honestly really felt bad about it! I hope the 10 pounds you got from the lucky draw was fair enough!



At the end of the end of the party, my shy husband who obviously had lots of fun that night said, "so when are we going to do this again?" I'm not sure when but i was surely happy we won 60 pounds that night as it will help us pay for our baby sitter!

For more pics of the event, please click the following link:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106664&id=734535184&l=4b480

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Bunco Group Christmas Party 2008


I know that today is Valentine's Day and probably too late for posting Christmas write-ups, but i love to post this one as i enjoyed this party a lot. A party with very good camaraderie, very good laugh and very good food and very good ambiance(not to mention the really funny exchanging of gifts!) is very hard to forget, hence, my blog would never miss that special event in my life! (what a drama!hehehehe!).We had a very good laugh as evidently shown in the photos and posing with silliness and promptness was the rule of the game.


Thirteen happy ladies (Becky,Kim,Carolyn,Jane,Kelly,Prily,Lynn,Sheila,Cindy,Cristina,Emilie,Grace and Glenda) attended the party bringing with them christmas gifts, savoury food, sweeties or drinks to share. The gift was worth 10 pounds or more. There was no boncu game to play,so, no dices to roll just friendships, food and drinks to share.
Our Boncu organizer,Becky hosted the party. Thanks a lot,Becky, just to let you know that we had a wonderful time!

Here are some of the photos, but for more pictures, please click this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103646&id=734535184&l=12784